All the surveys indicate that People's Party leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo may not have enough to take power in the next Spanish elections if he does not change the erratic, naive and careless attitude he has exhibited in the last few weeks. It now seems quite clear that the aura of a centrist that he transmitted from his native Galicia, where he behaved like a real lord of the manor, has evaporated in the move to Madrid, capital of tongue-lashing, backstabbing and ideological totalitarianism. Always, the right bears its fangs, ready to devour those who do not follow the agenda of the media or that of Aznar's FAES foundation to the letter.
Feijóo, who has not acclimatized to the political and media dynamics of the Spanish capital, is trying to ride the swell between the populism of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the centrism of Andalusian leader Juanma Moreno, while the companies of the Ibex 35, mostly anti-Sánchez, are beginning to think that maybe Pedro Sánchez will slip through their fingers again. Feijóo is a politician without charisma, as he confirmed out during his last visit to Barcelona to attend a tennis match in the upper part of the city, at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. After he had wandered the grounds alone for fifteen minutes, the hosts learned what was happening and had to rush out and find him.
Feijóo's problem is not so unusual in public life. A favourable tailwind, a feeling of confidence that it is only a matter of riding the wave to beat the opponent and an underestimation by the campaign advisers of the rival, who in holding power always has more resources than opponents do. Experience, however, shows that there are no easy elections, that for a campaign to be successful it must be based on hitting harder and more often than the competitor does, and for an election to be considered won before the day that the voters deposit their ballot papers is a bad decision.
In short, one must match the expectations of change that exist with what the public hopes for and what the candidate represents. On May 28th, thousands of candidates face similar challenges. For their result to come as close as possible to their desired objective will depend, fundamentally, on having got the strategy right and on having been able to obtain the trust of the citizens in a political project. The fatigue that broad layers of Spanish society feel about Sánchez is essential to give Feijóo options. Essential but not sufficient.